OILD – Snowcap Mountain

WHO’S READY FOR THE MARATHON? You know I am! The OILD ’11 Facebook page is still up! And let’s not forget our fine friends over at Fantasy Kingdoms! Have you all collected the items I made yet? Anyway, today’s level is from a game well-loved by Starmen.net and Fangamer. It’s Snowcap Mountain, from Mother 3!

Oh, Mother 3. Oh, Mother SERIES. If only more people could experience the joy you bring.

See, Mother 3 is, as you may imagine, the third game in the Mother trilogy. Around here, people mostly know “Mother 2” as “Earthbound.” The entire series goes against standard RPG tropes. Instead of being in a pseudo-medieval fantasy setting, it’s a cartoony modern setting. Instead of swords, you use baseball bats and yo-yos. And instead of magic, you have PSI, a psychokinetic force. In Mother, you played as Ninten, a young asthmatic boy who had to stop the evil alien Giygas from overthrowing the Earth. In Mother 2/Earthbound, a kid named Ness is told that within ten years, Giygas will completely destroy life as he knows it. In Mother 3, you play as several characters, but they all have one thing in common; they want to stop the Pig Army. A boy named Lucas once had a peaceful life in Tazmily Village, but his life was destroyed by these “Pigmasks.” These evil folks mangled the local wildlife, tormented anyone who got in their way, and duped almost the entire population into thinking they were actually the good guys! It’s a pretty heartbreaking game, truth be told. If you haven’t played it yet, you really need to. I’d reccommend playing a copy of Earthbound first, though. Mother 3 was never officially released internationally, but some dedicated fans took about TWO YEARS to translate the whole thing into English! And let me say, it’s a wonderful translation. If you want it, get it here!

So, Snowcap Mountain. It’s hard to really describe what this stage is like without explaining most of the game. And on top of that, I don’t want to spoil too much if you haven’t played the game yet! But here’s a little info on it: Lucas and his friends get to Snowcap through a network of tunnels dug by friendly mole crickets. When they get there, they run into several weird enemies such as the Ten-Yeti (a snowboarding yeti), the Chilly Dog (a dog made of ice), and the Frosted Bun (a… frosted… bun). They’re determined to complete their mission though, and they quickly get to the house of Lydia, a member of the magical, mysterious race known as the Magypsies. Unfortunately, the Pig Army has already beaten them to the mountain, and they’ve left a horrible monster called the Steel Mechorilla behind to deal with them!

Hey now, who says a somber game can’t have a cute wallpaper? And hey, Ten-Yetis are fuzzy, dot-eyed, and squishy, so that’s a plus! Get the full wallpaper here!

And who says we can’t have music? Snowcap is special in that it has one of the few songs to actually appear in all three Mother games. That song is called “Snowman,” and it’s a pretty cute tune. Here’s Snowman from Mother! And this version is from Earthbound/Mother 2! And this one is from Mother 3! What’s more, there’s a version of Snowman in Super Smash Brothers Brawl! Additionally, Winters is the theme for Winters, which is the snowy country from Earthbound. And to top it all off, here’s Don’t Freeze, from the very NOT-Mother-related game LaTale!

So, what about remixes? Well Frost Byte is by–who else–Joshua Morse! And it’s a remix of Don’t Freeze! Needless to say, this was a great addition to the OILD ’10 soundtrack. What’s more, there are quite a few icy Earthbound remixes right here! They were part of Bound Together, an Earthbound remix project. The snowy remixes are Winters & Morse (Winters), Snowbound (Snowman), and Tessie & the Bubblegum Monkey (Tessie)! The whole album’s great, so check it out!

On top of that, why not get some neat Earthbound gear over at Fangamer? They’ve helped out TSG a lot, their products are wonderful, and their customer service is excellent! I’ve bought from them many times, so I can personally attest to their radness!